January 11, 2010

Agh, two posts last week makes me feel like poop, mostly because I wasn't doing anything worthwhile otherwise!Anyway, when my family and I were in D.C. a couple weeks ago I spent 90% of the time in my pajamas on the couch watching Will & Grace and deciding whether or not it was worth the effort to reposition myself slightly when my right pinky toe got cold. I did, however, go to a vintage shop! How very bold and social and non-lazy.Now, normally I am very SKEPTICAL about vintage shops, because in addition to being lazy, I am also cheap, and 99% of the time prefer the Salvation Army because it costs way less and mostly just requires patience (which, when there are lacy gems to be found and fluffy sweaters to be acquired, I suddenly gain.)I liked Polly Sue's Vintage in Tacoma Park, Maryland though. In a lot of vintage boutiques it's so fancy that the gorgeous vintage feel seems to be inaccesible to us MERE PEASANT FOLK but Polly Sue's was kind of dreamy-schemey-time-machiney in a way that felt like an old jewelry box or scrapbook. This only makes sense in my head so to keep it short, GOOD VIBEZ.The prices are pretty typical for a vintage store - one really nice coat (don't remember the era-40's?) with a fur collar was $75, the blazer above was around 30, and the dress I got (further down in the post) was 22. That being said, many of the pieces were what you'd expect to find at a vintage store, but everything was in good condition and not unreasonably priced, I don't think. Plus, even though it is easy to find a lot of vintage clothing of a certain style, there were some truly special pieces, most definitely. If you want a slip that looks like a typical vintage slip, you'll find it, but if you want a more interesting one, you'll find that too.

The hat collection was my favorite part.Still, there were a number of pieces I really loved that I'm sure would've looked great even when taken out of magical-mesmerizing-vintage store context. I was considering this 50's skirt for $15 from the sale rack-

But ended up going with this dress for $20 (which I bought mostly to go with my soon-to-be-blue hair OH YES IT IS HAPPENING)

The colors are just so terribly perfect in real life. And it's like a tennis 60's sweater thingy! Wore it NYE and almost constantly since we got back, it's pretty gross?

And because three is the magic narcissist number, this is what I wore that day:

All in all though, lovely atmosphere, pretty great clothing collection, AMAZING hats, mostly reasonable prices. It's owned by two women and the one that was there when we were was very friendly, helpful, and clearly very interested in fashion and enthused by vintage clothing. If you're in the area I would recommend it! If not for the clothes, then at least for the cute dog: